Creamy Chicken Marsala Soup

Easy45 minsQuick

This Creamy Chicken Marsala Soup is everything you love about the classic pasta…slow simmered into a cozy, creamy, comforting soup. Feel free to make yours with any kind of pasta shape or noodles that you have on hand.

Cold and rainy days call for warm and cozy soups. Always. ♡

And last week, on a particularly cold and dark and drizzly day here in Spain, this creamy chicken soup ended up being particularly good for the my soup. Not to mention a particularly delicious way to warm up.

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It was inspired by everything I love in classic chicken marsala — tender chicken, lots (and lots) of hearty mushrooms, a creamy, garlicky, wine-infused broth, a few good handfuls of fresh spinach stirred in (gotta have at least a few greens), plus whatever shape of pasta you may have on hand (stirred right into the soup!). Then, when served up with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, along with — I insist — a generous sprinkle of freshly-grated Parmesan, it’s pretty much inevitable that this one will be a total winner.

It’s everything I love about a good creamy, cozy, comfort soup. So if you need a winter warm-up, grab some chicken and mushrooms at the store, and let’s make a batch together.

As I mentioned, the ingredients for this soup are pretty much directly inspired by classic Chicken Marsala. You’ll need:

lots of mushrooms (I love classic baby bellas, but white button mushrooms would also work well)

cooked, shredded chicken (feel free to pick up a rotisserie as a shortcut)

carrots + onion + garlic + thyme for seasoning

chicken stock + cream (or half and half) for the broth

pasta (any shape)

lots of baby spinach (to add at least a few greens to this creamy soup)

And the namesake of the dish…Marsala wine.

If you’re new to Marsala, it’s a fortified Italian wine that you can purchase either “dry” or “sweet”. Classic chicken marsala is usually made with sweet wine, but either will do. That said, if you can’t find Marsala, you can substitute in a dry or sweet white wine with an extra tablespoon or two of brandy. Or — if you prefer not to cook with alcohol — you can sub in a little extra chicken stock plus 3-4 tablespoons sherry vinegar instead.

As you’ll see in the recipe below, I opt to not completely “boil off” the wine, so that its flavor can still be present in the soup broth. But feel free to reduce the wine as much as you would like at that point in the recipe.

Then, once your soup is ready to go, ladle it up nice and hot into your serving bowls.

Serve them up with a few slices or a wedge of fresh lemon (and give them a good squeeze, it really helps brighten up the soup), and sprinkle with a generous pinch of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Creamy Chicken Marsala Soup

This Creamy Chicken Marsala Soup is everything you love about the classic pasta, slow simmered into a cozy, creamy, comforting soup. Feel free to make yours with any pasta shape/noodles that you have on hand.

Total Time:45 mins

Prep Time:20 mins

Cook Time:25 mins

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 pound baby bella (cremini) mushrooms, sliced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

1 small white onion, peeled and diced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

3 tablespoons flour

2/3 cup Marsala wine*

8 cups chicken stock

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

2 sprigs fresh thyme

4 ounces uncooked dry pasta, any shape (I used shells)

1 cup cream

2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach

Kosher salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

for serving: Parmesan cheese and fresh lemon wedges

Directions:

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté for 5-6 minutes until softened and browned. Transfer mushrooms with a slotted spoon to a separate plate, and set aside.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the stockpot, along with the carrot and onion. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and translucent. Add the garlic, and sauté for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Stir in the flour until completely combined, then cook for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally.

Add about half of the Marsala wine, and give the mixture a good stir, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any of those delicious brown bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining wine, chicken stock, shredded chicken, thyme, and stir to combine. Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer.

Then reduce heat to medium and stir in the dry pasta. Continue cooking for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente. Stir in the cooked mushrooms, cream and baby spinach until they are completely combined, and the spinach begins to wilt. Then taste the soup, and season with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper, as needed. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Serve warm, garnished with lots of Parmesan and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

This sounds delicious! QUICK QUESTION: How many tablespoons butter? The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons (divided), but the directions say melt 2 tablespoons butter…………and then add the remaining 2 tablespoons. I wonder if you meant 4 tablespoons butter, with 2 to melt and then 2, to add.

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It sounds so good. I also love the pictures you add with your recipes. Yum, yum! :-)

OMG this recipe is AMAZING! Thank you soooo much for sharing! It turned out fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised that it did not need much salt/pepper at all in the seasoning stage. I added a couple of add’l cloves of garlic when cooking, an additional large carrot and about a 1/2 cup more chicken. Very hearty meal…and did I mention FLAVORFUL! Thanks again! So excited I found your page and website. Be continually blessed!

I think the butter or flour ratio is off. After I sautéed the carrots and onion and added the flour there was NO liquid and it was sticking to the pot and threatening to burn so I was throwing butter in to make it cook right. Overall it had a nice taste but we were both turned off by the portabella mushroom texture so either I didn’t cook it enough or maybe next time I will use regular white mushrooms. Adding parmesan cheese was a great touch and I think the soup tasted better the next day. I will add more pasta too.